Lance Corporal Mike Mogridge, a Royal Fusilier recounts his childhood growing up during WWII. Later in life, he signed up for National Service, where he met Ronnie and Reggie Kray, bonding over their shared love of boxing.

Mike was sent to Korea with the Fusiliers, arriving in Pusan. Following a rest period, Mike and his battalion were sent to the frontline of The Battle of the Hook. This was a bloody conflict between Chinese and UN forces. During his time there, Mike remembers the bodies piling up eight feet high and the horrific smell.

Mike recalls a time when his scouting party was ambushed, and luckily, friendly mortar fire drove the Chinese back. Assumed dead, they were discovered alive by a patrol. Mike humorously remembers walking into the Sergeant’s tent and being greeted with, “Oh, I thought you were dead, fancy a cup of tea?”.

On his journey home from Korea, Mike shared a troopship with a Dorset regiment officer who, mistaking him for dead, expressed his regret. Told to turn around, the officer found Mike alive, apologising for not being dead. After National Service, Mike became SSAFA branch secretary.